Method and apparatus for distributing content

ABSTRACT

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, receiving a plurality of media content instances, where each media content instance of the plurality of media content instances comprises origination information, identifying a common event from the origination information of each media content instance of the plurality of media content instances, determining a plurality of viewing perspectives of the plurality of media content instances responsive to identifying the common event, and sending an alert to a social network to enable access to a viewing perspective of the plurality of viewing perspectives. Other embodiments are disclosed.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The subject disclosure relates to a method and apparatus fordistributing content.

BACKGROUND

With a significant rise in the volume of smart phones, tablets and otherportable media processing devices, the collection and exchange of mediacontent has challenged service providers of communication networks tokeep up with a high demand for communications bandwidth. Social networkshave also placed high demands on storage capacity for media contentsupplied by its members.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are notnecessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a system for sharingcontent recorded at a common event;

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative embodiment of the perspectives of usersrecording media content at the event depicted in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a method used in portionsof the system described in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 4-5 depict illustrative embodiments of communication systems thatprovide media services according to the embodiments of the method ofFIG. 3;

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a web portal forinteracting with the communication systems of FIGS. 1 and 4-5;

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a communication device; and

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the form of acomputer system within which a set of instructions, when executed, maycause the machine to perform any one or more of the methods describedherein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The subject disclosure describes, among other things, illustrativeembodiments for sharing content in a social setting. Other embodimentsare described in the subject disclosure.

One or more aspects of the subject disclosure include obtaining live orrecorded content from members of a social network, detecting that thecontent may be associated with a same event, analyzing the content toidentify viewing perspectives of the event, and alerting members of thesocial network of an availability to access the live or recordedcontent. Other aspects of the subject disclosure can also includeprioritizing access to the viewing perspectives according to resourcelimitations of the devices used by member of the social network,reputation of members providing the live or recorded content, networktraffic conditions of a network providing the social network access tothe content, a viewing quality of the different viewing perspectives, orcombinations thereof.

One embodiment of the subject disclosure includes a device having aprocessor and a memory that stores executable instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor, facilitate performance of operationsincluding receiving a plurality of media content instances, where eachmedia content instance of the plurality of media content instancescomprises content information, orientation information, and temporalinformation. The operations can further include identifying a commonevent from the orientation information and the temporal information ofeach media content instance of the plurality of media content instances,determining a plurality of viewing perspectives of the plurality ofmedia content instances responsive to identifying the common event, andsending an alert to a social network to enable access to a viewingperspective of the plurality of viewing perspectives.

One embodiment of the subject disclosure includes a machine-readablestorage medium, comprising executable instruction that, when executed bya processor, facilitate performance of operations including receiving aplurality of media content instances, where each media content instanceof the plurality of media content instances comprises originationinformation. The operations can further include identifying a commonevent from the origination information of each media content instance ofthe plurality of media content instances, determining a plurality ofviewing perspectives of the plurality of media content instancesresponsive to identifying the common event, and sending an alert to asocial network to enable access to a viewing perspective of theplurality of viewing perspectives.

One embodiment of the subject disclosure includes a method forobtaining, by a system comprising a processor, a plurality of mediacontent instances with location information, identifying, by the system,a common event from the location information of each media contentinstance of the plurality of media content instances. The method canalso include determining, by the system, a plurality of viewingperspectives of the plurality of media content instances responsive toidentifying the common event, and sending, by the system, an alert to asocial network to enable access to a viewing perspective of theplurality of viewing perspectives.

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a system 100 for sharingcontent in a social setting. FIG. 1 depicts different users ofcommunication devices 104 recording a concert event 102 using a videocamera feature of communication devices 104. Each user can havedifferent seating arrangements 204-212 as shown in the seating chart 202of FIG. 2. System 100 can comprise servers 110 which can becommunicatively coupled to the communication devices 104 and to a socialnetwork 120 by way of communication system 106. Communication system 106can be a circuit switched or packet switched network for landline orwireless communications. The social network 120 can comprise computingand communication technology to enable members of the social network 120to share content with each other via equipment of the members, which iscommunicatively coupled to the social network 120.

Servers 110 can receive information from the communication devices 104such as content information, orientation information, and temporalinformation via the communication system 106. The content informationcan comprise metadata descriptive of the content being recorded, and/orthe recorded content itself. The orientation information can includeglobal positioning system (GPS) coordinate information and compassinformation derived from a GPS receiver and a magnetometer included inthe communication devices 104. The temporal information can includetimes stamps indicating various recording points in the content. Theservers 110 can be configured to share content with members of thesocial network 120 as described by method 300 of FIG. 3 described below.

Method 300 can begin with step 302 where the servers 110 receive mediacontent instances from a plurality of communication devices 104 such asshown in FIG. 1. The media content instances can include the contentinformation, orientation information and temporal information referredto above. At step 304 the servers 110 can in one embodiment identify acommon event associated with the media content instances received fromthe communication devices 104 by analyzing the recorded content usingimage processing technology and thereby determining from the analyzedimages that each communication device 104 is recording a concert event.The servers 110 can analyze the orientation information of eachcommunication device 104 and determine from GPS coordinates that thecommunication devices 104 are located in a stadium from which the mediainstances of the concert are being recorded. Based on the location ofthe stadium, and a date and time retrieved from the temporal informationprovided with the media content instances, the servers 110 can searchpublic postings from the stadium and identify the artists involved inthe concert. Alternatively, if the stadium has not publicized theconcert, the servers 110 can utilize image processing technology toidentify the artists depicted in the media content instances. Forinstance, in one embodiment, image processing techniques such asscale-invariant feature transformation (SIFT) point matching withgeometric transformation verification for registering images can be usedto determine if two or more images contain some portion of the samescene content. A SIFT algorithm or other suitable image processingalgorithm can be used for detecting when media content provided bycommunication devices of multiple users is associated with a commonevent.

In another embodiment, the servers 110 can further determine a date andtime when the media content instances are being recorded. Based on thecombined information that the recordings are taking place at aparticular stadium, on a particular date and time, the servers 110 cansearch for events posted by the stadium during this time and discoverthat the event is a concert of a recognized artist. If public postingsare not available, the servers 110 can utilize image processingtechnology to identify the artists as noted above. In step 306, theservers 110 can determine the location of the communication devices 104within the stadium. With GPS coordinate information, the servers 110 candetermine the seating arrangement of each user of the communicationdevices 104 as depicted by references 204-212 in FIG. 2. From theseating positions, the servers 110 can further identify at step 308 aplurality of perspectives for the media content instances received fromthe communication devices 104. For instance, users 204, 210 and 212 haveleft and right perspectives of the concert stage 102, while users 206and 208 have near front stage views of the concert stage 102.

At step 310, the servers 110 can further determine a viewing quality ofeach perspective by analyzing the recorded content. The servers 110 can,for example, sample content from each communication device 104 toperform a quality analysis of the media content instances to measuretemporal jerkiness (e.g., due to the user's shaky hand, camerainstabilities, etc.), blurry content due to fast panning action or outof focus recording, and so on. The server 110 can also determine viewingquality from the resolution of the cameras of each communication device104. The servers 110 can also determine a desirability measure of eachperspective based on the artist that is being captured in the mediacontent instances. For example, if the lead singer is being captured ona side perspective by user 204, while user 206 is capturing theguitarist which may be less popular, then the servers 110 can assign ahigher quality measure to the media content instance provided by thecommunication device 104 of user 204 than the quality measure assignedto the media content instance provided by the communication device 104of user 206. The servers 110 can use image processing technology toprocess the images in the media content instances to assess the artistsbeing captured in these images.

Once the viewing quality of each perspective of the media contentinstances provided by the communication devices 104 has been determinedin step 310, the servers 110 can compare results in step 312 to rankquality levels of perspectives of the media content instances. At step314, the servers 110 can further determine whether communication system106 of FIG. 1 has sufficient bandwidth to offer streaming content forall perspectives to members of the social network 120. If trafficconditions of the communication system 106 are high at the time themedia content instances are to be offered by the servers 110, then theservers 110 can proceed to step 316 and select a subset of one or moremedia content instances from all media content instances according tothe comparisons performed in step 312, and limit access at step 318 bymembers of the social network 120 to only the selected one or more mediacontent instances. Step 316 can be used to reduce the impact of addingadditional traffic congestion to the communication system 106.

At step 320, members of the social network 120 can be alerted to onlythe media content instances selected in step 316 when limited bandwidthis detected at step 314, or the members can be alerted to all mediacontent instances when there are no bandwidth constraints. In anembodiment where bandwidth limitations are not monitored, steps 314,316, and 318 can be skipped as shown by the dotted line from step 312 tostep 320. The alert sent to equipment of the members of the socialnetwork 120 can include metadata information that describes the event(e.g., a concert of a particular artist), the location and time of theevent, whether the event is live or pre-recorded, the quality of eachperspective that is being offered for viewing, and rankings generated bythe servers 110 indicating which of the perspectives may be moredesirable than others.

The alerts can be sent by the servers 110 as short messaging service(SMS) messages or multimedia messaging service (MMS) messages. The alertmessages can be presented as advertisements to members of the socialnetwork 120. MMS messages can include thumbnail still images or shortvideo segments of the media instances available for selection.Alternatively or in combination, the alerts can be email messages. Othermessaging techniques suitable to the subject disclosure can be used withmethod 100. To avoid a significant increase in traffic congestion, inone embodiment, the alert messages do not include a copy or stream ofcontent associated with the media content instances. In this case, themessages serve to indicate that content is available and may be ofinterest to others. In other embodiments, certain members of the socialnetwork 120 may configure their accounts with user profiles toautomatically receive a copy or stream with the alert messages. Thealerts can be directed to equipment used by members of the socialnetwork 120 such as the servers used by the social network 120, or smartphones, or tablets used by the members. The servers 110 can receiveinformation from the social network 120 to determine which equipment todirect alert messages to.

At step 322, the servers 110 can receive requests from equipment ofmembers of the social network 120 for a particular viewing perspectiveof the media content instances. In one embodiment, the requests can beinitiated by members of the social network 120 by selecting one of theperspectives provided in the alert messages. In another embodiment, somemembers of the social network 120 can have user profiles configured toautomatically select the perspective with the highest ranking given bythe servers 110. Responsive to the requests, the servers 110 can send instep 324 to the equipment of the members of the social network 120 themedia instances associated with the viewing perspectives selected. Toimprove transmission efficiency of the communication system 106,multicast streaming can be used for members who select the same mediacontent instances. In this embodiment, intermediate network nodes ofcommunication system 106 can be configured to schedule a multicaststreamed transmission. For members who want immediate service and whosubmit non-concurrent requests, the servers 110 can facilitate unicaststreamed transmissions.

The servers 110 can facilitate communications between the communicationdevices 104 and the equipment of the members of the social network 120.In one embodiment, the servers 110 can direct the communication devices104 to stream content from the communication devices 104 directly to theequipment of the members of the social network 120. In anotherembodiment, the servers 110 can direct the communication devices 104 toprovide the media content instances to the servers 110 and the servers110 can distribute the content to the equipment of the members of thesocial network 120. Other suitable distribution techniques can be used.

The foregoing embodiments of method 300 can be applied to any event. Forexample, method 300 can be applied in instances where users ofcommunication devices 104 record a news event, a sports event, orotherwise, which may be of interest to members of the social network120. Method 100 can also be adapted to group members of the socialnetwork 120 according to their interests and sub-categorize which alertsare sent to which member groups. For instance, the servers 110 can beconfigured to track the behavior of members of the social network 120according to their selections of subject matter provided by othermembers, determine from such selections a bias by certain members tocertain subject matter, and thereby identify sub-groupings of memberswithin the social network 120 according to a subject matter of interest.Accordingly, when a subject matter of interest to a particularsub-grouping of members is detected, the servers 110 can be configuredto selectively alert only the particular sub-grouping. User profiles canalso be provided by members of the social network 120 that identifysubject matter of interest to such members. The servers 110 can also beconfigured to identify sub-groupings according to the user profiles.

FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a first communicationsystem 400 for delivering media content. The communication system 400can represent an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) media system.Communication system 400 can be overlaid or operably coupled with system100 of FIG. 1 as another representative embodiment of communicationsystem 400. Additionally, communication system 400 can be configured toperform the service delivery techniques described by method 300 of FIG.3. For instance, one or more devices illustrated in the communicationsystem 400 of FIG. 4 can be configured to perform operations includingreceiving a plurality of media content instances, where each mediacontent instance of the plurality of media content instances comprisesorigination information, identifying a common event from the originationinformation of each media content instance of the plurality of mediacontent instances, determining a plurality of viewing perspectives ofthe plurality of media content instances responsive to identifying thecommon event, and sending an alert to user equipment to enable access toa viewing perspective of the plurality of viewing perspectives.

The IPTV media system can include a super head-end office (SHO) 410 withat least one super headend office server (SHS) 411 which receives mediacontent from satellite and/or terrestrial communication systems. In thepresent context, media content can represent, for example, audiocontent, moving image content such as 2D or 3D videos, video games,virtual reality content, still image content, and combinations thereof.The SHS server 411 can forward packets associated with the media contentto one or more video head-end servers (VHS) 414 via a network of videohead-end offices (VHO) 412 according to a multicast communicationprotocol.

The VHS 414 can distribute multimedia broadcast content via an accessnetwork 418 to commercial and/or residential buildings 402 housing agateway 404 (such as a residential or commercial gateway). The accessnetwork 418 can represent a group of digital subscriber line accessmultiplexers (DSLAMs) located in a central office or a service areainterface that provide broadband services over fiber optical links orcopper twisted pairs 419 to buildings 402. The gateway 404 can usecommunication technology to distribute broadcast signals to mediaprocessors 406 such as Set-Top Boxes (STBs) which in turn presentbroadcast channels to media devices 408 such as computers or televisionsets managed in some instances by a media controller 407 (such as aninfrared or RF remote controller).

The gateway 404, the media processors 406, and media devices 408 canutilize tethered communication technologies (such as coaxial, powerlineor phone line wiring) or can operate over a wireless access protocolsuch as Wireless Fidelity (WiFi), Bluetooth®, Zigbee® or other presentor next generation local or personal area wireless network technologies.By way of these interfaces, unicast communications can also be invokedbetween the media processors 406 and subsystems of the IPTV media systemfor services such as video-on-demand (VoD), browsing an electronicprogramming guide (EPG), or other infrastructure services.

A satellite broadcast television system 429 can be used in the mediasystem of FIG. 4. The satellite broadcast television system can beoverlaid, operably coupled with, or replace the IPTV system as anotherrepresentative embodiment of communication system 400. In thisembodiment, signals transmitted by a satellite 415 that include mediacontent can be received by a satellite dish receiver 431 coupled to thebuilding 402. Modulated signals received by the satellite dish receiver431 can be transferred to the media processors 406 for demodulating,decoding, encoding, and/or distributing broadcast channels to the mediadevices 408. The media processors 406 can be equipped with a broadbandport to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) network 432 to enableinteractive services such as VoD and EPG as described above.

In yet another embodiment, an analog or digital cable broadcastdistribution system such as cable TV system 433 can be overlaid,operably coupled with, or replace the IPTV system and/or the satelliteTV system as another representative embodiment of communication system400. In this embodiment, the cable TV system 433 can also provideInternet, telephony, and interactive media services.

The subject disclosure can apply to other present or next generationover-the-air and/or landline media content services system.

Some of the network elements of the IPTV media system can be coupled toone or more computing devices 430, a portion of which can operate as aweb server for providing web portal services over the ISP network 432 towireline media devices 408 or wireless communication devices 416.

Communication system 400 can also provide for all or a portion of thecomputing devices 430 to function as a server (herein referred to asserver 430). The server 430 can use computing and communicationtechnology to perform function 462, which can include among otherthings, the service delivery techniques described by method 300 of FIG.3. For instance, function 462 of server 430 can be similar to thefunctions described for servers 110 of FIG. 1 in accordance with method300. The media processors 406 and wireless communication devices 416 canbe provisioned with software functions 464 and 466, respectively, toutilize the services of server 430. For instance, functions 464 and 466of the media processors 406 and wireless communication devices 416 canbe similar to the functions described for the communication devices 104of FIG. 1 in accordance with method 300.

Multiple forms of media services can be offered to media devices overlandline technologies such as those described above. Additionally, mediaservices can be offered to media devices by way of a wireless accessbase station 417 operating according to common wireless access protocolssuch as Global System for Mobile or GSM, Code Division Multiple Accessor CDMA, Time Division Multiple Access or TDMA, Universal MobileTelecommunications or UMTS, World interoperability for Microwave orWiMAX, Software Defined Radio or SDR, Long Term Evolution or LTE, and soon. Other present and next generation wide area wireless access networktechnologies can be used in one or more embodiments of the subjectdisclosure.

FIG. 5 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a communication system 500employing an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network architecture tofacilitate the combined services of circuit-switched and packet-switchedsystems. Communication system 500 can be overlaid or operably coupledwith system 100 of FIG. 1 and communication system 400 as anotherrepresentative embodiment of communication system 400. Additionally,communication system 500 can be configured to perform the servicedelivery techniques described by method 300 of FIG. 3. For instance, oneor more devices illustrated in the communication system 500 of FIG. 5can be configured to perform operations including receiving a pluralityof media content instances, where each media content instance of theplurality of media content instances comprises origination information,identifying a common event from the origination information of eachmedia content instance of the plurality of media content instances,determining a plurality of viewing perspectives of the plurality ofmedia content instances responsive to identifying the common event, andsending an alert to user equipment to enable access to a viewingperspective of the plurality of viewing perspectives.

Communication system 500 can comprise a Home Subscriber Server (HSS)540, a tElephone NUmber Mapping (ENUM) server 530, and other networkelements of an IMS network 550. The IMS network 550 can establishcommunications between IMS-compliant communication devices (CDs) 501,502, Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) CDs 503, 505, andcombinations thereof by way of a Media Gateway Control Function (MGCF)520 coupled to a PSTN network 560. The MGCF 520 need not be used when acommunication session involves IMS CD to IMS CD communications. Acommunication session involving at least one PSTN CD may utilize theMGCF 520.

IMS CDs 501, 502 can register with the IMS network 550 by contacting aProxy Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF) which communicates with aninterrogating CSCF (I-CSCF), which in turn, communicates with a ServingCSCF (S-CSCF) to register the CDs with the HSS 540. To initiate acommunication session between CDs, an originating IMS CD 501 can submita Session Initiation Protocol (SIP INVITE) message to an originatingP-CSCF 504 which communicates with a corresponding originating S-CSCF506. The originating S-CSCF 506 can submit the SIP INVITE message to oneor more application servers (ASs) 517 that can provide a variety ofservices to IMS subscribers.

For example, the application servers 517 can be used to performoriginating call feature treatment functions on the calling party numberreceived by the originating S-CSCF 506 in the SIP INVITE message.Originating treatment functions can include determining whether thecalling party number has international calling services, call IDblocking, calling name blocking, 7-digit dialing, and/or is requestingspecial telephony features (e.g., *72 forward calls, *73 cancel callforwarding, *67 for caller ID blocking, and so on). Based on initialfilter criteria (iFCs) in a subscriber profile associated with a CD, oneor more application servers may be invoked to provide various calloriginating feature services.

Additionally, the originating S-CSCF 506 can submit queries to the ENUMsystem 530 to translate an E.164 telephone number in the SIP INVITEmessage to a SIP Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) if the terminatingcommunication device is IMS-compliant. The SIP URI can be used by anInterrogating CSCF (I-CSCF) 507 to submit a query to the HSS 540 toidentify a terminating S-CSCF 514 associated with a terminating IMS CDsuch as reference 502. Once identified, the I-CSCF 507 can submit theSIP INVITE message to the terminating S-CSCF 514. The terminating S-CSCF514 can then identify a terminating P-CSCF 516 associated with theterminating CD 502. The P-CSCF 516 may then signal the CD 502 toestablish Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication services,thereby enabling the calling and called parties to engage in voiceand/or data communications. Based on the iFCs in the subscriber profile,one or more application servers may be invoked to provide various callterminating feature services, such as call forwarding, do not disturb,music tones, simultaneous ringing, sequential ringing, etc.

In some instances the aforementioned communication process issymmetrical. Accordingly, the terms “originating” and “terminating” inFIG. 5 may be interchangeable. It is further noted that communicationsystem 500 can be adapted to support video conferencing. In addition,communication system 500 can be adapted to provide the IMS CDs 501, 502with the multimedia and Internet services of communication system 400 ofFIG. 4.

If the terminating communication device is instead a PSTN CD such as CD503 or CD 505 (in instances where the cellular phone only supportscircuit-switched voice communications), the ENUM system 530 can respondwith an unsuccessful address resolution which can cause the originatingS-CSCF 506 to forward the call to the MGCF 520 via a Breakout GatewayControl Function (BGCF) 519. The MGCF 520 can then initiate the call tothe terminating PSTN CD over the PSTN network 560 to enable the callingand called parties to engage in voice and/or data communications.

It is further appreciated that the CDs of FIG. 5 can operate as wirelineor wireless devices. For example, the CDs of FIG. 5 can becommunicatively coupled to a cellular base station 521, a femtocell, aWiFi router, a Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) baseunit, or another suitable wireless access unit to establishcommunications with the IMS network 550 of FIG. 5. The cellular accessbase station 521 can operate according to common wireless accessprotocols such as GSM, CDMA, TDMA, UMTS, WiMax, SDR, LTE, and so on.Other present and next generation wireless network technologies can beused by one or more embodiments of the subject disclosure. Accordingly,multiple wireline and wireless communication technologies can be used bythe CDs of FIG. 5.

Cellular phones supporting LTE can support packet-switched voice andpacket-switched data communications and thus may operate asIMS-compliant mobile devices. In this embodiment, the cellular basestation 521 may communicate directly with the IMS network 550 as shownby the arrow connecting the cellular base station 521 and the P-CSCF516.

Alternative forms of a CSCF can operate in a device, system, component,or other form of centralized or distributed hardware and/or software.Indeed, a respective CSCF may be embodied as a respective CSCF systemhaving one or more computers or servers, either centralized ordistributed, where each computer or server may be configured to performor provide, in whole or in part, any method, step, or functionalitydescribed herein in accordance with a respective CSCF. Likewise, otherfunctions, servers and computers described herein, including but notlimited to, the HSS, the ENUM server, the BGCF, and the MGCF, can beembodied in a respective system having one or more computers or servers,either centralized or distributed, where each computer or server may beconfigured to perform or provide, in whole or in part, any method, step,or functionality described herein in accordance with a respectivefunction, server, or computer.

The server 430 of FIG. 4 can be operably coupled to the secondcommunication system 500 for purposes similar to those described above.Server 430 can perform function 462 and thereby provide media contentdelivery services to the CDs 501, 502, 503 and 505 of FIG. 5 similar tothe functions described for servers 110 of FIG. 1 in accordance withmethod 300 of FIG. 3. CDs 501, 502, 503 and 505, which can be adaptedwith software to perform function 572 to utilize the services of theserver 430 similar to the functions described for communication devices104 of FIG. 1 in accordance with method 300 of FIG. 3. Server 430 can bean integral part of the application server(s) 517 performing function574, which can be substantially similar to function 462 and adapted tothe operations of the IMS network 550.

For illustration purposes only, the terms S-CSCF, P-CSCF, I-CSCF, and soon, can be server devices, but may be referred to in the subjectdisclosure without the word “server.” It is also understood that anyform of a CSCF server can operate in a device, system, component, orother form of centralized or distributed hardware and software. It isfurther noted that these terms and other terms such as DIAMETER commandsare terms can include features, methodologies, and/or fields that may bedescribed in whole or in part by standards bodies such as 3^(rd)Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). It is further noted that some orall embodiments of the subject disclosure may in whole or in partmodify, supplement, or otherwise supersede final or proposed standardspublished and promulgated by 3GPP.

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a web portal 602 ofcommunication system 600. Communication system 600 can be overlaid oroperably coupled with system 100 of FIG. 1, communication system 400,and/or communication system 500 as another representative embodiment ofsystem 100 of FIG. 1, communication system 400, and/or communicationsystem 500. The web portal 602 can be used for managing services ofcommunication systems 400-500. A web page of the web portal 602 can beaccessed by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) with an Internet browserusing an Internet-capable communication device such as those describedin FIGS. 1-2. The web portal 602 can be configured, for example, toaccess a media processor 406 and services managed thereby such as aDigital Video Recorder (DVR), a Video on Demand (VoD) catalog, anElectronic Programming Guide (EPG), or a personal catalog (such aspersonal videos, pictures, audio recordings, etc.) stored at the mediaprocessor 106. The web portal 602 can also be used for provisioning IMSservices described earlier, provisioning Internet services, provisioningcellular phone services, and so on.

The web portal 602 can further be utilized to manage and provisionsoftware applications 462-466, and 572-574 to adapt these applicationsas may be desired by subscribers and/or service providers of system 100of FIG. 1 and communication systems 400-500 of FIGS. 4-5.

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a communication device 700.Communication device 700 can serve in whole or in part as anillustrative embodiment of the devices depicted in FIGS. 1 and 4-5.Additionally, communication device 700 can be configured to perform inwhole or in part the service delivery techniques described by method 300of FIG. 3. For instance, members of the social network 120 can log intotheir on-line accounts and provision the servers 110 or server 430 withuser profiles that identify subject matter of interest to the members,contact information of the communication devices 104 of the members toenable the servers 110 or server 430 to access such devices, and so on.Service providers can log onto an administrator account to provision,monitor and/or maintain the servers 110 or server 430.

Communication device 700 can comprise a wireline and/or wirelesstransceiver 702 (herein transceiver 702), a user interface (UI) 704, apower supply 714, a location receiver 716, a motion sensor 718, anorientation sensor 720, and a controller 706 for managing operationsthereof. The transceiver 702 can support short-range or long-rangewireless access technologies such as Bluetooth®, ZigBee®, WiFi, DECT, orcellular communication technologies, just to mention a few (Bluetooth®and ZigBee® are trademarks registered by the Bluetooth® Special InterestGroup and the ZigBee® Alliance, respectively). Cellular technologies caninclude, for example, CDMA-1X, UMTS/HSDPA, GSM/GPRS, TDMA/EDGE, EV/DO,WiMAX, SDR, LTE, as well as other next generation wireless communicationtechnologies as they arise. The transceiver 702 can also be adapted tosupport circuit-switched wireline access technologies (such as PSTN),packet-switched wireline access technologies (such as TCP/IP, VoIP,etc.), and combinations thereof.

The UI 704 can include a depressible or touch-sensitive keypad 708 witha navigation mechanism such as a roller ball, a joystick, a mouse, or anavigation disk for manipulating operations of the communication device700. The keypad 708 can be an integral part of a housing assembly of thecommunication device 700 or an independent device operably coupledthereto by a tethered wireline interface (such as a USB cable) or awireless interface supporting for example Bluetooth®. The keypad 708 canrepresent a numeric keypad commonly used by phones, and/or a QWERTYkeypad with alphanumeric keys. The UI 704 can further include a display710 such as monochrome or color LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), OLED(Organic Light Emitting Diode) or other suitable display technology forconveying images to an end user of the communication device 700. In anembodiment where the display 710 is touch-sensitive, a portion or all ofthe keypad 708 can be presented by way of the display 710 withnavigation features.

The display 710 can use touch screen technology to also serve as a userinterface for detecting user input. As a touch screen display, thecommunication device 700 can be adapted to present a user interface withgraphical user interface (GUI) elements that can be selected by a userwith a touch of a finger. The touch screen display 710 can be equippedwith capacitive, resistive or other forms of sensing technology todetect how much surface area of a user's finger has been placed on aportion of the touch screen display. This sensing information can beused to control the manipulation of the GUI elements or other functionsof the user interface. The display 710 can be an integral part of thehousing assembly of the communication device 700 or an independentdevice communicatively coupled thereto by a tethered wireline interface(such as a cable) or a wireless interface.

The UI 704 can also include an audio system 712 that utilizes audiotechnology for conveying low volume audio (such as audio heard inproximity of a human ear) and high volume audio (such as speakerphonefor hands free operation). The audio system 712 can further include amicrophone for receiving audible signals of an end user. The audiosystem 712 can also be used for voice recognition applications. The UI704 can further include an image sensor 713 such as a charged coupleddevice (CCD) camera for capturing still or moving images.

The power supply 714 can utilize common power management technologiessuch as replaceable and rechargeable batteries, supply regulationtechnologies, and/or charging system technologies for supplying energyto the components of the communication device 700 to facilitatelong-range or short-range portable applications. Alternatively, or incombination, the charging system can utilize external power sources suchas DC power supplied over a physical interface such as a USB port orother suitable tethering technologies.

The location receiver 716 can utilize location technology such as aglobal positioning system (GPS) receiver capable of assisted GPS foridentifying a location of the communication device 700 based on signalsgenerated by a constellation of GPS satellites, which can be used forfacilitating location services such as navigation. The motion sensor 718can utilize motion sensing technology such as an accelerometer, agyroscope, or other suitable motion sensing technology to detect motionof the communication device 700 in three-dimensional space. Theorientation sensor 720 can utilize orientation sensing technology suchas a magnetometer to detect the orientation of the communication device700 (north, south, west, and east, as well as combined orientations indegrees, minutes, or other suitable orientation metrics).

The communication device 700 can use the transceiver 702 to alsodetermine a proximity to a cellular, WiFi, Bluetooth®, or other wirelessaccess points by sensing techniques such as utilizing a received signalstrength indicator (RSSI) and/or signal time of arrival (TOA) or time offlight (TOF) measurements. The controller 706 can utilize computingtechnologies such as a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP),programmable gate arrays, application specific integrated circuits,and/or a video processor with associated storage memory such as Flash,ROM, RAM, SRAM, DRAM or other storage technologies for executingcomputer instructions, controlling, and processing data supplied by theaforementioned components of the communication device 700.

Other components not shown in FIG. 7 can be used in one or moreembodiments of the subject disclosure. For instance, the communicationdevice 700 can include a reset button (not shown). The reset button canbe used to reset the controller 706 of the communication device 700. Inyet another embodiment, the communication device 700 can also include afactory default setting button positioned, for example, below a smallhole in a housing assembly of the communication device 700 to force thecommunication device 700 to re-establish factory settings. In thisembodiment, a user can use a protruding object such as a pen or paperclip tip to reach into the hole and depress the default setting button.The communication device 400 can also include a slot for adding orremoving an identity module such as a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)card. SIM cards can be used for identifying subscriber services,executing programs, storing subscriber data, and so forth.

The communication device 700 as described herein can operate with moreor less of the circuit components shown in FIG. 7. These variantembodiments can be used in one or more embodiments of the subjectdisclosure.

The communication device 700 can be adapted to perform the functions ofthe portable communication devices 104 of FIG. 1, the media processor406, the media devices 408, or the portable communication devices 416 ofFIG. 4, as well as the IMS CDs 501-502 and PSTN CDs 503-505 of FIG. 5.It will be appreciated that the communication device 700 can alsorepresent other devices that can operate in system 100, andcommunication systems 400-500 of FIGS. 4-5 such as a gaming console anda media player.

The communication device 700 shown in FIG. 7 or portions thereof canserve as a representation of one or more of the devices of system 100 ofFIG. 1, communication system 400, and communication system 500. Inaddition, the controller 706 can be adapted in various embodiments toperform the functions 462-466 and 572-574, respectively.

Upon reviewing the aforementioned embodiments, it would be evident to anartisan with ordinary skill in the art that said embodiments can bemodified, reduced, or enhanced without departing from the scope of theclaims described below. For example, method 100 can be applied topost-recorded content. Accordingly, step 304 can apply to real-time,near real-time, and non-real-time media content. Method 100 can befurther adapted to enable third parties such as news organizations orbroadcasters to subscribe to the above services and tap into mediacontent instance feeds which can be combined by the news agency orbroadcasters with other programming as an ancillary broadcast of contentfor its viewers. It is further noted that communication devices 104 canbe configured with software clients that perform the embodimentsdescribed for method 300 of FIG. 3. Other embodiments can be used in thesubject disclosure.

It should be understood that devices described in the exemplaryembodiments can be in communication with each other via various wirelessand/or wired methodologies. The methodologies can be links that aredescribed as coupled, connected and so forth, which can includeunidirectional and/or bidirectional communication over wireless pathsand/or wired paths that utilize one or more of various protocols ormethodologies, where the coupling and/or connection can be direct (e.g.,no intervening processing device) and/or indirect (e.g., an intermediaryprocessing device such as a router).

FIG. 8 depicts an exemplary diagrammatic representation of a machine inthe form of a computer system 800 within which a set of instructions,when executed, may cause the machine to perform any one or more of themethods described above. One or more instances of the machine canoperate, for example, as the communication devices 104, servers 110,server 430, the media processor 406 and other devices of FIGS. 1 and4-5. In some embodiments, the machine may be connected (e.g., using anetwork 826) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machinemay operate in the capacity of a server or a client user machine inserver-client user network environment, or as a peer machine in apeer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment.

The machine may comprise a server computer, a client user computer, apersonal computer (PC), a tablet, a smart phone, a laptop computer, adesktop computer, a control system, a network router, switch or bridge,or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. It will beunderstood that a communication device of the subject disclosureincludes broadly any electronic device that provides voice, video ordata communication. Further, while a single machine is illustrated, theterm “machine” shall also be taken to include any collection of machinesthat individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) ofinstructions to perform any one or more of the methods discussed herein.

The computer system 800 may include a processor (or controller) 802(e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU,or both), a main memory 804 and a static memory 806, which communicatewith each other via a bus 808. The computer system 800 may furtherinclude a display unit 810 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), a flatpanel, or a solid state display. The computer system 800 may include aninput device 812 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor control device 814 (e.g.,a mouse), a disk drive unit 816, a signal generation device 818 (e.g., aspeaker or remote control) and a network interface device 820. Indistributed environments, the embodiments described in the subjectdisclosure can be adapted to utilize multiple display units 810controlled by two or more computer systems 800. In this configuration,presentations described by the subject disclosure may in part be shownin a first of the display units 810, while the remaining portion ispresented in a second of the display units 810.

The disk drive unit 816 may include a tangible computer-readable storagemedium 822 on which is stored one or more sets of instructions (e.g.,software 824) embodying any one or more of the methods or functionsdescribed herein, including those methods illustrated above. Theinstructions 824 may also reside, completely or at least partially,within the main memory 804, the static memory 806, and/or within theprocessor 802 during execution thereof by the computer system 800. Themain memory 804 and the processor 802 also may constitute tangiblecomputer-readable storage media.

Dedicated hardware implementations including, but not limited to,application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arrays andother hardware devices that can likewise be constructed to implement themethods described herein. Application specific integrated circuits andprogrammable logic array can use downloadable instructions for executingstate machines and/or circuit configurations to implement embodiments ofthe subject disclosure. Applications that may include the apparatus andsystems of various embodiments broadly include a variety of electronicand computer systems. Some embodiments implement functions in two ormore specific interconnected hardware modules or devices with relatedcontrol and data signals communicated between and through the modules,or as portions of an application-specific integrated circuit. Thus, theexample system is applicable to software, firmware, and hardwareimplementations.

In accordance with various embodiments of the subject disclosure, theoperations or methods described herein are intended for operation assoftware programs or instructions running on or executed by a computerprocessor or other computing device, and which may include other formsof instructions manifested as a state machine implemented with logiccomponents in an application specific integrated circuit or fieldprogrammable gate array. Furthermore, software implementations (e.g.,software programs, instructions, etc.) including, but not limited to,distributed processing or component/object distributed processing,parallel processing, or virtual machine processing can also beconstructed to implement the methods described herein. It is furthernoted that a computing device such as a processor, a controller, a statemachine or other suitable device for executing instructions to performoperations or methods may perform such operations directly or indirectlyby way of one or more intermediate devices directed by the computingdevice.

While the tangible computer-readable storage medium 822 is shown in anexample embodiment to be a single medium, the term “tangiblecomputer-readable storage medium” should be taken to include a singlemedium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database,and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets ofinstructions. The term “tangible computer-readable storage medium” shallalso be taken to include any non-transitory medium that is capable ofstoring or encoding a set of instructions for execution by the machineand that cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methods ofthe subject disclosure. The term “non-transitory” as in a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage includes without limitation memories, drives,devices and anything tangible but not a signal per se.

The term “tangible computer-readable storage medium” shall accordinglybe taken to include, but not be limited to: solid-state memories such asa memory card or other package that houses one or more read-only(non-volatile) memories, random access memories, or other re-writable(volatile) memories, a magneto-optical or optical medium such as a diskor tape, or other tangible media which can be used to store information.Accordingly, the disclosure is considered to include any one or more ofa tangible computer-readable storage medium, as listed herein andincluding art-recognized equivalents and successor media, in which thesoftware implementations herein are stored.

Although the present specification describes components and functionsimplemented in the embodiments with reference to particular standardsand protocols, the disclosure is not limited to such standards andprotocols. Each of the standards for Internet and other packet switchednetwork transmission (e.g., TCP/IP, UDP/IP, HTML, HTTP) representexamples of the state of the art. Such standards are from time-to-timesuperseded by faster or more efficient equivalents having essentiallythe same functions. Wireless standards for device detection (e.g.,RFID), short-range communications (e.g., Bluetooth®, WiFi, Zigbee®), andlong-range communications (e.g., WiMAX, GSM, CDMA, LTE) can be used bycomputer system 800.

The illustrations of embodiments described herein are intended toprovide a general understanding of the structure of various embodiments,and they are not intended to serve as a complete description of all theelements and features of apparatus and systems that might make use ofthe structures described herein. Many other embodiments will be apparentto those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. Theexemplary embodiments can include combinations of features and/or stepsfrom multiple embodiments. Other embodiments may be utilized and derivedtherefrom, such that structural and logical substitutions and changesmay be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Figuresare also merely representational and may not be drawn to scale. Certainproportions thereof may be exaggerated, while others may be minimized.Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and describedherein, it should be appreciated that any arrangement calculated toachieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodimentsshown. This disclosure is intended to cover any and all adaptations orvariations of various embodiments. Combinations of the aboveembodiments, and other embodiments not specifically described herein,can be used in the subject disclosure, including combining one or morefeatures of one embodiment with one or more features of anotherembodiment. The exemplary embodiments can also expressly exclude one ormore of the features that are described with respect to the particularembodiment.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided with the understanding thatit will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of theclaims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can beseen that various features are grouped together in a single embodimentfor the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method ofdisclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that theclaimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited ineach claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subjectmatter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment.Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the DetailedDescription, with each claim standing on its own as a separately claimedsubject matter.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device, comprising: a processor; and a memorythat stores executable instructions that, when executed by theprocessor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising: receiving aplurality of media content instances, wherein each media contentinstance of the plurality of media content instances comprises contentinformation, orientation information, and temporal information;identifying a common event from the orientation information and thetemporal information of each media content instance of the plurality ofmedia content instances; determining a plurality of viewing perspectivesof the plurality of media content instances responsive to identifyingthe common event; and sending an alert to a social network to enableaccess to a viewing perspective of the plurality of viewingperspectives.
 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the operations furthercomprise determining a viewing quality of each of the plurality ofviewing perspectives.
 3. The device of claim 2, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: detecting a limitation in communication resources toenable presentation of the plurality of media content instances;comparing the viewing quality of each of the plurality of viewingperspectives; selecting a media content instance of the plurality ofmedia content instances according to the comparison; and limiting accessby the social network to the viewing perspective of the media contentinstance selected.
 4. The device of claim 2, wherein the viewing qualitycomprises an assessment of a desirability of the viewing perspective ofeach of the plurality of viewing perspectives.
 5. The device of claim 2,wherein the viewing quality comprises an assessment of a resolutionquality of each of the plurality of viewing perspectives.
 6. The deviceof claim 2, wherein the viewing quality comprises an assessment of asteadiness of images recorded, a blurriness of the images recorded, anover exposure of the images recorded, an under exposure of the imagesrecorded, or any combination thereof.
 7. The device of claim 1, whereinthe orientation information of each of the plurality of media contentinstances comprises coordinate data and compass data from which at leasta portion of each of the plurality of media content instances isrecorded, and wherein the content information comprises one of stillimage content, video content, audio content or any combination thereof.8. The device of claim 1, wherein the alert comprises an advertisementfor soliciting access to the viewing perspective.
 9. The device of claim1, wherein the common event comprises a social event taking place at ornear a location identified by the orientation information associatedwith a media content instance of the plurality of media contentinstances, wherein the operations further comprise analyzing the mediacontent instance associated with the viewing perspective to generatemetadata descriptive of the common event, and wherein the alertcomprises the metadata.
 10. The device of claim 1, wherein the pluralityof media content instances are supplied by a plurality of communicationdevices used by members of the social network, and wherein the alert issent to the social network responsive to receiving a request from acommunication device of the plurality of communication devices.
 11. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein a media content instance of the plurality ofmedia content instances is pre-recorded by a communication device. 12.The device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise detectinga subject matter from a media content instance of the plurality of mediacontent instances, and wherein the alert is sent to the social networkresponsive to the detecting the subject matter.
 13. The device of claim1, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving from equipmentcommunicatively coupled to the social network a request for a mediacontent instance associated with the viewing perspective; and sending tothe equipment the content information associated with the media contentinstance responsive to receiving the request.
 14. The device of claim13, wherein the content information associated with the media contentinstance is streamed to the equipment while the plurality of mediacontent instances are being recorded by a plurality of communicationdevices located at or near a location where the common event is takingplace, and wherein the content information is streamed from one of theplurality of communication devices recording the viewing perspectiveassociated with the media content instance requested.
 15. Amachine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instruction that,when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations,comprising: receiving a plurality of media content instances, whereineach media content instance of the plurality of media content instancescomprises origination information; identifying a common event from theorigination information of each media content instance of the pluralityof media content instances; determining a plurality of viewingperspectives of the plurality of media content instances responsive toidentifying the common event; and sending an alert to a social networkto enable access to a viewing perspective of the plurality of viewingperspectives.
 16. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 15,wherein the origination information comprises orientation information,temporal information, or combinations thereof, and wherein theoperations further comprise: determining a prioritization of theplurality of viewing perspectives of the plurality of media contentinstances according to one of a viewing quality of each of the pluralityof viewing perspectives, a state of resources of a network that providesthe social network access to the plurality of viewing perspectives, areputation obtained from the social network of an author of each of theplurality of viewing perspectives of the plurality of media contentinstances, or any combination thereof; and providing the social networkaccess to the plurality of viewing perspectives according to theprioritization.
 17. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 15,wherein the operations further comprise: receiving from equipmentcommunicatively coupled to the social network a request for a mediacontent instance associated with the viewing perspective; and sending tothe equipment content information associated with the media contentinstance responsive to receiving the request.
 18. The machine-readablestorage medium of claim 15, wherein the origination information of eachof the plurality of media content instances comprises a coordinatelocation from which at least a portion of each of the plurality of mediacontent instances is recorded.
 19. A method, comprising: obtaining, by asystem comprising a processor, a plurality of media content instanceswith location information; identifying, by the system, a common eventfrom the location information of each media content instance of theplurality of media content instances; determining, by the system, aplurality of viewing perspectives of the plurality of media contentinstances responsive to identifying the common event; and sending, bythe system, an alert to a social network to enable access to a viewingperspective of the plurality of viewing perspectives.
 20. The method ofclaim 19, wherein the system is a communication device of a plurality ofcommunication devices supplying the plurality of media contentinstances.